Asphalt
by Sunny Shadows
Summary: He laid on the the snowdusted asphalt, feeling the cold and pain seep into him, and blinked once at the starry sky before his eyes closed. FINALLY FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENED TO POGUE
1. Chapter 1

**This story is different than the other Covenant story that I'm working on, of course. I'm trying to put more description into this story than the other one... I tend to use A LOT of dialogue and very little description, so I'm working on balancing that out... So let me know how I'm doing.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Covenant!!!**

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Pogue Parry slowed down but didn't stop, and Caleb fell into step beside him. They had both just gotten out of their last class of the day, Psychology. 

"We're going to Nicky's tonight," Caleb said. "You want to come?"

"No. I've got stuff to do," Pogue replied lamely.

"Pogue--" Caleb started.

"I don't want to talk about it."

Caleb stopped and just watched Pogue walk away. He knew what was wrong with Pogue, but he didn't know how to fix it.

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A musty smell overwhelmed Pogue as he opened the heavy wooden door to the library. Inside, the lighting was dim, and Pogue's eyes took a moment to adjust. The library was practically empty, just like he had expected it to be. It was a Friday, an unseasonably warm mid-March day, and classes were over for the week. 

He headed up the old, red carpeted stairway to the second level of the library. He walked past three rows of books and turned right.

"Oh!"

Pogue almost knocked a girl over, but he managed to catch her before she toppled over.

"Sorry," he apologized as he released his grip on her arm.

"It's okay," she said, her lips curving into a small smile. "I was just trying to reach that green book on the top shelf."

The girl had straight black hair that fell just below her shoulders, grass green eyes, and creamy skin. But, the fact that she was pretty didn't even register with Pogue. He just wanted to sit down in a quiet place by himself so he could think.

"Do you think you could hand it to me?" she prompted gently. She was at least a good five inches shorter (probably more) than he was. Even when she stood on her tip toes, she couldn't quite reach the book.

"Oh. Uh, yeah." He grabbed the book and handed it to her.

"Thanks."

Pogue just stared at her blandly, willing her to move out of his way. It wasn't that he disliked her or anything; he just wanted to sit down and be left alone. The girl finally realized that he was waiting for her to let him pass, so she stepped to the side.

"Sorry," she said softly.

Pogue just shrugged it off and walked away.

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**Okay, so this is kinda short, but I'm already working on the next chapter. **


	2. Chapter 2

**So this chapter is a little bit longer. More to come soon. Still trying to think of a name... Read and Review.**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own the Covenant!**

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Pogue spent the rest of his weekend holed up in his dorm room, only venturing out for food and showers. Anytime Caleb or anyone else called, he just ignored them. When Caleb tried to come by, he didn't answer the door. He used to live for the weekends, but now Monday couldn't come fast enough.

Pogue was almost late to his first hour Literature class, but he walked in just as the bell rang. He silently took his seat beside Caleb. The lesson today seemed even more boring and useless than it did every other day, and Pogue tuned out Mr. Polska within the first five minutes of class. Usually, Pogue could at least make it to ten or fifteen minutes before he ignored the teacher.

"Mr. Parry?"

Caleb nudged Pogue with his elbow, and Pogue blinked up at Mr. Polska.

"Any thoughts on the story, Mr. Parry?"

Pogue didn't even know what story Polska was talking about. "No. Not really."

Polska sighed. It wasn't worth his time hassling an answer out of Pogue. He turned his attemtion to somebody else, which Pogue was thankful for.

When the bell rang, Pogue gathered his stuff and shoved it back into his bag. Another hour wasted. Pogue slowly worked his way down the steps and towards the door.

Polska cleared his throat and said, "Mr. Parry, a moment please?"

Pogue reluctantly went over to Polska's desk.

"As you well know, your grades have been slipping dramatically." Polska clasped his hands together.

Of course Pogue knew his grades were slipping, not that they had ever been great. They had been going downhill for months now. And he didn't even care.

"At the request of your parents, you have been assigned a tutor."

Pogue tried not to roll his eyes. Like a tutor was going to help anything.

"Here's the room number of your tutor." Polska handed Pogue a slip of paper with a dorm number written on it. "You need to visit your tutor by the end of today so that the two of you can set up regular meeting times."

Pogue glanced at the paper as he walked out of the classroom. Room 209. It wasn't too far from his own dorm, not that he was going to stop by there anyway. Pogue crumpled the paper and let it fall out of his hand and onto the ground.


	3. Chapter 3

**FINALLY!**

**Disclaimer: I only own original characters. Duh.**

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_He laid on the snow dusted asphalt, feeling the cold and pain seep into him, and blinked once at the starry sky before his eyes closed._

A sharp knock on the door jolted Pogue awake. He looked at his clock. 8:36. He was just going to wait until whoever it was stopped knocking, but the person was very persistent and kept knocking on the door. Finally, he rolled off his bed and opened the door.

"What?" he asked annoyed, fully expecting to see Caleb.

"Um, you're Pogue, right?" It was the same girl from the library.

"Yeah, so?" He had said it a lot meaner than he had intended, but he wasn't about to apologize for it.

The girl tried not to get too riled by his attitude. Or to stare at him because he was shirtless. "I'm Brooke Evans, your tutor. Didn't Mr. Polska tell you? You were supposed to come by."

"I guess I forgot," Pogue replied, even though they both knew it was a lie.

"Well, that's okay. So... Did you want to get started tonight?" Brooke was trying her hardest not to blush, but she was starting to lose the battle.

"Not really."

"Tomorrow then?"

_She's not going to go away, is she?_ "Yeah, sure. Fine. Tomorrow." Pogue shut his door.

"After last hour!" Brooke called to him through the door. "In the library!" _What an ass wipe._

Brooke walked back to her dorm room wondering what in the hell his problem was.

Brooke waited patiently in the library the next day for an hour and a half. Then, she gave up. She felt like an idiot. Had she really expected him to show up? What was the point of trying to tutor someone when they obviously didn't want to be tutored? Why was she even wasting her time?

Because she had to. That was one of the reasons she had been admitted to the Spencer Academy. She was supposed to tutor students whenever to keep her place at the school. Most of the kids she worked with could have cared less, but she had to put up with them anyway, no matter how snotty or obnoxious they were.

In a crappy mood, she headed back to her dorm room. On the way there, she saw a tall guy with black hair knocking on room 203's door, Pogue's door. When Pogue answered the door, he caught sight of Brooke, but she just glared at him and continued walking.

"Pogue, are you hearing a word I'm saying?"

Pogue turned his attention back to Caleb. He had been distracted by that one girl, his "tutor"—he thought her name started with a "B", maybe Bridget or something—as she had walked past in the hall. She looked like she was pissed at him. Had she really expected him to show up? How naïve was she?

"Look, I just don't want to talk right now," Pogue told Caleb and started to shut the door.

Caleb put a hand his hand in the door to stop Pogue from shutting the door. "Pogue you can't keep hiding in your room forever." He paused and took a deep breath. He knew that Pogue didn't want to hear what was coming next. "You can't let all the stuff that happened with Kate stop you."

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**::Evil laugh:: Yep, that's the end of this chapter.**


	4. Chapter 4

**So now we'll finally find out what everyone's been asking...**

**Disclaimer: Still don't own The Covenant...**_

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_Friday night. Middle of Christmas vacation. No school, no parents (seeing as they were on extended vacations), and no obligations (who has a job when their parents are rich?). So what else was there to do but party?_

_Pogue couldn't remember a day of Christmas vacation when there hadn't been a party. He'd stay up all night and crash at around three, maybe five if the party was really good, sleep until at least two in the afternoon, and repeat the cycle again that night. This was what Pogue lived for—the parties. Partying was the only thing that made school, or life, remotely bearable. It gave him something to look forward to._

_The party on Christmas Eve was the biggest party yet. It was at Sherri Turner's house. Pogue barely even knew Sherri, but that didn't matter. Anyone who was even vaguely anybody was going to the party. Which, of course, meant that all four of the Sons of Ipswich were going to be there. Tyler was picking up Reid, whose license was still suspended. Caleb was taking Sarah in his car, and Pogue was going to pick up Kate on his motorcycle._

_Pulling into Kate's driveway, Pogue saw Kate peeking out the front window waiting for him. When she caught sight of him, she dashed out the front door and towards him with a little squeal. She was wearing a black miniskirt, a tight pink top, a black jacket, and black boots._

"_It's cold out here!" Kate complained._

"_It's winter," Pogue teased. "It's supposed to be cold."_

"_Well, if it's going to be cold, it should at least snow." Kate sighed and looked up at the sky. "I want a white Christmas this year."_

"_Come on," Pogue said and handed his extra helmet to Kate, but she looked at him with disgust._

"_You want me to wear that?" Kate gave a little laugh. "No way am I going to go to the party with helmet hair. Especially not after I spent an hour curling my hair."_

_Pogue looked at her hair. To him, it looked pretty much the way it always did, but he wasn't about to tell her that. "It looks great," he said instead._

_Kate got on the back of the bike and wrapped her arms around his waist. "Let's go. I want to be fashionably late, not miss the whole party."_

_Pogue, knowing that Kate would get her way about the helmet no matter what he said, decided to just let the subject go. What could happen anyway?_

_The roads were empty except for the few stragglers still on their way to Sherri's house. Even Reid and Tyler passed by them in Tyler's Hummer (and Tyler was actually driving for a change), and Reid let out a whoop of enthusiasm as they passed by._

_Kate removed one arm from around Pogue's waist to wave to Reid and Tyler. Not wanting to be shown up, Pogue sped up to catch up with Tyler. There was no way he was going to let Baby Boy beat him._

_Over the sound of the wind, Pogue heard Kate give a little squeal as they picked up speed. Just as Pogue was about to pass Tyler, he lost control as the motorcycle slid across a slick patch on the road. He hadn't even seen the ice there._

_The next thing Pogue knew, he was laying on the ground. He couldn't see Kate. Something cold landed on the tip of his nose. It was snowing. It looked like Kate would get her wish for a white Christmas…_

_He laid on the snow dusted asphalt, feeling the cold and pain seep into him, and blinked once at the starry sky before his eyes closed. __

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_**Okay, so for anyone who couldn't figure this out, this whole chapter was a flashback... I know it's short, but I'm sure eveyone wanted to know about Pogue's problem, so I figured not to make you guys wait any longer...**


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